Pick and Shovel Stiffs 1927

Kenneth Callahan made this print, Pick and Shovel Stiffs, using etching, a process which must have felt a bit like digging itself. I mean, look at those figures, bent over their work! Callahan's got this way of using line that’s so full of feeling. It's like he's not just showing us what these guys are doing, but how it feels to be doing it – the strain, the weight, the endless repetition. You know? I bet Callahan knew it too. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. There's something about the way the house sits on that little mound, watching over the workers, that also adds to the whole mood. Like what's it all for? I guess artists have always been asking that question, in their own way, digging into the dirt, hoping to find something real.